EU GDPR | Art. 43

Certification Bodies

Article 43
  1. Without prejudice to the tasks and powers of the competent supervisory authority under Articles 57 and 58, certification bodies which have an appropriate level of expertise in relation to data protection shall, after informing the supervisory authority in order to allow it to exercise its powers pursuant to point (h) of Article 58(2) where necessary, issue and renew certification. Member States shall ensure that those certification bodies are accredited by one or both of the following:
    1. the supervisory authority which is competent pursuant to Article 55 or 56;
    2. the national accreditation body named in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council¹ in accordance with EN-ISO/IEC 17065/2012 and with the additional requirements established by the supervisory authority which is competent pursuant to Article 55 or 56.
  2. Certification bodies referred to in paragraph 1 shall be accredited in accordance with that paragraph only where they have:
    1. demonstrated their independence and expertise in relation to the subject-matter of the certification to the satisfaction of the competent supervisory authority;
    2. undertaken to respect the criteria referred to in Article 42(5) and approved by the supervisory authority which is competent pursuant to Article 55 or 56 or by the Board pursuant to Article 63;
    3. established procedures for the issuing, periodic review and withdrawal of data protection certification, seals and marks;
    4. established procedures and structures to handle complaints about infringements of the certification or the manner in which the certification has been, or is being, implemented by the controller or processor, and to make those procedures and structures transparent to data subjects and the public; and
    5. demonstrated, to the satisfaction of the competent supervisory authority, that their tasks and duties do not result in a conflict of interests.
  3. The accreditation of certification bodies as referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall take place on the basis of criteria approved by the supervisory authority which is competent pursuant to Article 55 or 56 or by the Board pursuant to Article 63. In the case of accreditation pursuant to point (b) of paragraph 1 of this Article, those requirements shall complement those envisaged in Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 and the technical rules that describe the methods and procedures of the certification bodies.